The BBC has commissioned new dramas by award-winning scriptwriter Jimmy McGovern and the creator of Hustle Tony Jordan.

BBC's Controller of Drama Commissioning Ben Stephenson announced the projects at a keynote speech he gave at MIPTV.

He said: "Both of these new commissions are passion projects for Jimmy McGovern and Tony Jordan - and are projects only the BBC would make."

McGovern has teamed up with RSJ Films to create an eight-part serial for BBC Two. The untitled series will be set in the late 1780s and will focus on the deportation of unwanted British citizens to the other side of the world.

The title and cast of the upcoming programme - which will be told through the eyes of convicts James Freeman, Tommy Barrett and Elizabeth Quinn - is expected to be announced in the coming months.

Meanwhile Tony Jordan - whose previous projects include Hustle, Life on Mars and The Nativity - has written The Great War to air on BBC One next year as part of the channel's coverage to mark 100 years since the start of World War I.

The series will follow the journey of two young soldiers who enlist in the army, with each of the five half-hour parts set in the chronological years of the war.

Jordan explained: "The story looks at all aspects of the war - from the families left behind to the strategic decisions by generals that led to unimaginable bloodshed and the men fighting in the trenches - no one is unaffected by this global war."